William Hale Thompson

33rd Mayor of Chicago

Party

• Republican

Elected

• First term:
  • February 23, 1915 (primary)
    • Defeated Jacob A. Hey and Harry Olson
  • April 6, 1915 (general)
    • Defeated John H. Hill (Prohibition), Seymour Stedman (Socialist), Robert M. Sweitzer (Democrat) and Charles Thomson (Progressive)
• Second term:
  • February 25, 1919 (primary)
    • Defeated Charles E. Merriam and Harry Olson
  • April 1, 1919 (general)
    • Defeated Adolph S. Carm (Socialist Labor), John Collins (Socialist), John Fitzpatrick (Labor), Maclay Hoyne (Independent) and Robert M. Sweitzer (Democrat)
• Third term:
  • February 22, 1927 (primary)
    • Defeated Edward R. Litsinger and Eugene McCaffrey
  • April 5, 1927 (general)
    • Defeated William E. Dever (Democrat) and J.D. Robertson (People’s Ownership Smash Crime Rings)

Inaugurations

• First term: April 26, 1915: Inaugural Address
• Second term: April 18, 1919: Inaugural Address
• Third term: April 18, 1927: Inaugural Address

Terms of Office

• First term: 1915–1919
• Second term: 1919–1923
• Third term: 1927–1931

Birth

• May 14, 1869
• Boston

Personal

• In his youth, he went west and became a cowboy and later a manager of a cattle ranch in New Mexico
• 1892: Returned to Chicago to manage his father’s estate
• Played football for Chicago Athletic association
• 1901: Elected alderman of the 2nd Ward
• 1901: Married Miss Mary “Maysie” Walker Wyse; they had no children
• 1902: Member of the county board

Death

• March 19, 1944
• Chicago

Gravesite

• Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago

Sources

• Chicago Daily Tribune, December 20, 1901, p. 3.
• Chicago Daily Tribune, March 20, 1944, p. 16.
• Chicago Daily Tribune, March 21, 1944, p. 16.
• Grossman, James R., Ann Durkin Keating and Janice L. Reiff, editors. Encyclopedia of Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2004.